American Reporters in China with Mike Chinoy

The Strait Up Podcast

This is my last show for Rti, but I am keeping the show going on a new feed! If you want to keep listening to the show, you can find it at https://shows.acast.com/the-strait-up-podcast

Today on the show I have a very special guest, Mike Chinoy. Mike was the first head of CNN's Beijing Bureau which opened in 1987, and led the coverage of important events such as the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. He is now a non-resident senior fellow at the University of Southern California's U.S.-China Institute. Mike is also the author of the recent book Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People's Republic. The book offers first-hand accounts from American journalists of what it has been like to report from inside China over the decades, from the post-WWII period through to today. Mike also produced a multi-part documentary series of the same name, which includes footage and interviews with these journalists. A Chinese translation of the book has also just been released.

In this interview, we cover a number of topics and historical events described in the book, including reporting on the cultural revolution, President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the outbreak of COVID-19, and other topics.

If you'd like to keep following me, you can see the new podcast website above, or follow me on Twitter, @chris_gorin

A YouTube version of this episode can be found here.